Sim card for German iPhone while in the US for 2 weeks.
November 7, 2014 6:24 AM Subscribe
German visitor to the U.S. need a micro sim card with data for her iphone...
Next week a friend will be flying to the US (Orlando), and then be driving Florida and the south for two weeks. Because the vendor in Germany she was dealing with screwed up her order and they can not ship the order to her on time, she needs to buy a US sim card for her iPhone when she arrives in the states.
She would rather not buy one out of the machines in the airport. For customer service reasons she'd like to get one from a big-box / chain store. She speaks English moderately well.
The card will be used 99% of the time for data eating apps: GPS, Maps, Mail, maybe pandora.
So, Boiled down into a question:
Since she only needs it for two weeks, what US national chain store retails mico sim cards which includes a monthly data plan, preferably unlimited data, which will work in an iphone for a budget around $100.
Thanks in advance!
Next week a friend will be flying to the US (Orlando), and then be driving Florida and the south for two weeks. Because the vendor in Germany she was dealing with screwed up her order and they can not ship the order to her on time, she needs to buy a US sim card for her iPhone when she arrives in the states.
She would rather not buy one out of the machines in the airport. For customer service reasons she'd like to get one from a big-box / chain store. She speaks English moderately well.
The card will be used 99% of the time for data eating apps: GPS, Maps, Mail, maybe pandora.
So, Boiled down into a question:
Since she only needs it for two weeks, what US national chain store retails mico sim cards which includes a monthly data plan, preferably unlimited data, which will work in an iphone for a budget around $100.
Thanks in advance!
She'll probably feel at home with T-Mobile using a prepaid SIM. They offer an $80/month service with unlimited LTE data. If her phone doesn't support LTE and only 3G GSM, then maybe go with a smaller plan since T-Mobile downshifts you from LTE to 3G once you hit the cap.
She'll need to make sure the phone is unlocked. If it's a German iPhone I'm guessing it is?
Best bet would be to find an actual store and walk in and not try to order this over the net.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:50 AM on November 7, 2014
She'll need to make sure the phone is unlocked. If it's a German iPhone I'm guessing it is?
Best bet would be to find an actual store and walk in and not try to order this over the net.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:50 AM on November 7, 2014
Response by poster: @JoeZydeco - Thanks. She definitely wont be trying over the net. She'll be walking into a store :-)
posted by sandra_s at 6:55 AM on November 7, 2014
posted by sandra_s at 6:55 AM on November 7, 2014
TMobile is, I think, the best bet for prepaid. But she will do better if she goes to an actual T-Mobile store than into a big-box store which just happens to resell TMO products. I would not trust a Best Buy / Radio Shack-type clerk not to try and sign her up sneakily for a recurring plan / new phone / home equity loan / kidney transplant if she was not super-aware of what they were trying to do. When it comes to cellphones a lot of stores are shady as hell, and some of them actively prey on anyone whose command of English isn't good. (At least, in my area they do.)
If she can print and take with her the description of exactly what she wants when she goes to the store, that might make things go more smoothly.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:36 AM on November 7, 2014
If she can print and take with her the description of exactly what she wants when she goes to the store, that might make things go more smoothly.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:36 AM on November 7, 2014
I also recommend T-Mobile - I use a prepaid plan that gives you 100 minutes plus unlimited talk and text for $30 scroll down and look for the fine print. Once you buy the sim (and a $30 top-up card) I think you can either activate it at Walmart or online at T-Mobile.com, not sure if she's comfortable with that.
If she doesn't want to activate online, any of the Simple Choice plans (also on the list above) should work fine. I would recommend she uses a top-up card rather than her credit card to pay for the minutes so that there's no question of charging her next month.
posted by mskyle at 7:43 AM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
If she doesn't want to activate online, any of the Simple Choice plans (also on the list above) should work fine. I would recommend she uses a top-up card rather than her credit card to pay for the minutes so that there's no question of charging her next month.
posted by mskyle at 7:43 AM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
T-Mobile offers excellent pre-paid plans, but based on my experience (twice!) the local T-Mobile stores, even the corporate ones, will not sell you the prepaid SIM starter kits, and will only provide SIM cards to activate a monthly (and not pre-paid) plan. However, many Walmarts do carry the T-Mobile prepaid SIM starter kits.
Walmart also carries the Straight Talk SIM activation kits, which provide unlimited talk, text, 3GB of high-speed data and unlimited 2G data without a monthly agreement prepaid.
I hate to say it, but given their nationwide ubiquity and selection of pre-paid SIM cards, your friend will probably want to go to Walmart.
posted by eschatfische at 8:00 AM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Walmart also carries the Straight Talk SIM activation kits, which provide unlimited talk, text, 3GB of high-speed data and unlimited 2G data without a monthly agreement prepaid.
I hate to say it, but given their nationwide ubiquity and selection of pre-paid SIM cards, your friend will probably want to go to Walmart.
posted by eschatfische at 8:00 AM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I find that buying a roaming bundle gets me all the data I need when travelling, all on my existing plan and the cost is comparable to that of a prepaid SIM card. The cost for these bundles has come way down in the last few years so your friend should call her German provider and find out how much that would be, before worrying about buying a SIM card.
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:41 AM on November 7, 2014
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:41 AM on November 7, 2014
I did this recently, coming from Australia, with three family members. Three of us had android phones, one had an iPhone. I ordered my sim in advance online and activated it in the T-Mobile website, getting the $30 plan. My brother and sister decided they wanted the same, so we went into a Walgreen's and got them T-Mobile starter packs and again did the activation on line. My mother then decided she wanted the same thing, and she is the one with the iPhone. We went back to Walgreen's and they sold us another starter pack but if had the wrong size sim and we couldn't just cut it down enough without cutting into the gold bit. We took it back and Walgreen's told us the sim size we needed didn't exist. Obviously untrue, of course.
So then we went to a T-Mobile shop and while they were able to sell us the right sized card, they tried really hard to sign us up for ongoing plans, and then for more expensive plans than we wanted. They wouldn't just sell us the pack and let us sign up online, either. They said the 30 dollar plan didn't exist, and when I told them three of us were successfully using it, they said you could only do it if you bought the phone at a Walmart, which clearly wasn't true either. Finally they claimed to sell us the pack for us to activate online, but when we tried, we found they HAD already activated it, on a more expensive plan.
Anyway it was a big hassle and the moral is that in my limited experience the T-Mobile stores are terrible, and Walgreen's is okay if they have the right sized sim card in stock, but with an iPhone you'll have to be very careful about that.
posted by lollusc at 4:00 PM on November 7, 2014
So then we went to a T-Mobile shop and while they were able to sell us the right sized card, they tried really hard to sign us up for ongoing plans, and then for more expensive plans than we wanted. They wouldn't just sell us the pack and let us sign up online, either. They said the 30 dollar plan didn't exist, and when I told them three of us were successfully using it, they said you could only do it if you bought the phone at a Walmart, which clearly wasn't true either. Finally they claimed to sell us the pack for us to activate online, but when we tried, we found they HAD already activated it, on a more expensive plan.
Anyway it was a big hassle and the moral is that in my limited experience the T-Mobile stores are terrible, and Walgreen's is okay if they have the right sized sim card in stock, but with an iPhone you'll have to be very careful about that.
posted by lollusc at 4:00 PM on November 7, 2014
I also recommend T-Mobile - I use a prepaid plan that gives you 100 minutes plus unlimited talk and text for $30 scroll down and look for the fine print. Once you buy the sim (and a $30 top-up card) I think you can either activate it at Walmart or online at T-Mobile.com, not sure if she's comfortable with that.
This is _the_ plan if you just want to use a bunch of data, ultra second this.
There is no cheaper deal and it even includes LTE. And they won't penalize you if you use more than 2gb, or other dumb stuff some other plans don't mention in the fine print but will do(straight talk, etc)
posted by emptythought at 5:05 PM on November 7, 2014
This is _the_ plan if you just want to use a bunch of data, ultra second this.
There is no cheaper deal and it even includes LTE. And they won't penalize you if you use more than 2gb, or other dumb stuff some other plans don't mention in the fine print but will do(straight talk, etc)
posted by emptythought at 5:05 PM on November 7, 2014
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posted by blob at 6:46 AM on November 7, 2014